Post Weekend Rambles

Hello, readers...the whole, ya know, 11 of you. How do the people who have those huge blog followers and make a ton of money on blogging do it? I will start advertising and being more entertaining, I suppose....

Not much happening on the baking front, as my hand-me-down and sentimental Kitchen Aid took a nose dive last week! (See a past post...I think it had to do with making bagels!) Christian thinks he can fix it, following the suggestion of a friend from church (Hi John!)...I hope so...I would probably list this mixer among my best friends! And I'd like to get a jump start on baked goods for Emma's baptism day...

I've been pondering getting my bakery license again...not sure if I would get enough orders to make it worth it...don't worry, I'll still be baking for the holidays...contact me if you want something! ;-) Pumpkin rolls, cinnamon rolls, tea rings, sugar cookies, oh my!

The biggest thing I have to report: the birth of Caroline Christine Beadle last Friday! What a precious gift from God. She's just beautiful! I would have brought her home, but her dad reminded me about the security bracelet...plus, Emma was a wee bit jealous, maybe because her brother informed her that she is now an old lady...ha...Say hello, little miss!

Seeing this precious babe has given me a whopping case of baby fever. I totally understand how people have large families....

We went to church yesterday morning, and I felt the Spirit flowing through me. Our regular pastor was on vacation...I REALLY liked the sermon delivered by Reverend Chase Page! It resonated with my soul. I was also complimented on the behavior of my children, which is always nice to hear. :-)

Today is a beautiful fall day, that makes me want to go apple picking and hang out in a pumpkin patch. :-) Sam is noticing the fall changes and loving them too! This shows the beginning of leaf changes and the teeny red apples that cover our apple trees...*sigh*

Ok, actually you can't see it as much as I thought....

On a more serious note, today I have recommitted myself to a healthier lifestyle. "Dieting" while breastfeeding is historically disastrous for me. I am SO hungry ALL the time. So instead of "dieting", I am focusing on making good choices. Here's my hearty breakfast: Rolled oats cooked with some craisins and raw almonds (1/2 serving of each), then drizzled with a bit of honey and a big sprinkle of cinnamon! Yum!



I have always struggled with body image, no matter what my weight...I've been both too thin and overweight, so this is a battle that I will probably always face. I had great success following the Weight Watchers program right before I got pregnant with Brayden...maybe when I'm done nursing Emma...ask me in a about a year.

What's for dinner tonight? Whole wheat penne with one of our favorites, cauliflower, we call it "cauliflower pasta"...we cook cauliflower in some vegetable broth (with onion, garlic, salt/pepper, and rosemary), mash it up, stir in some Parmesan cheese, and toss with the pasta...it's a feel-good dinner that is also healthy...served with green beans drizzled in reduced balsamic vinegar! Fill up my plate please!


I could keep rambling about random things, but, Emma has another idea of what Momma should be doing..........

Chili Pie

I had a lot of chili left over from last week, so I decided to make something yummy for dinner using what I had.

First I lined the bottom of a pie plate with bell peppers. I happened to have red peppers because they were on sale somewhere last week. I wish that I had some butternut squash to dice up too, but I didn't have any...I once saw on a cooking show a recipe where you hollow out butternut squash and stuff it with chili...yum! Anyway, peppers:

Then I scooped a bunch of chili over the peppers. This (vegetarian) chili was really good, it was smokey and flavorful:

Over the chili, I put some pepper jack cheese slices I had that needed to be used, and sprinkled some cheddar for good measure:

At this point, I usually toss it in the oven while the oven is preheating so it is nice and warm already when the next layer goes on top.

Now comes Christian's favorite: a layer of cornbread. Come on now, do NOT wimp out at this point and use a box mix. Please. You can do it. It took me longer to arrange the stuff for the picture than it took me to make the batter. (Not showing butter or salt.)


Back into the oven to bake until bubbly and golden. (I recommend a thin layer of bread, maybe half of a recipe..use the rest to make muffins and then crumble them into bread crumbs for something else. Or just eat the corn muffins with a little jam if you just can't stand it.)



Try not to burn your mouth eating it straight out of the oven. We had it with a green salad and homemade applesauce, which I actually started making for Emma but we couldn't help tasting it either....

I should probably get on top of using the 4-1/2 pounds of beans I cooked last week...making black bean burgers Friday and using the rest to make burritos!

Hope you try this and enjoy....

No Power? No Problem. Kind of.

Here are some things we do when we don't have electricity:

Read by flashlight. Yes, we're that nerdy. In Christian's case, he fell asleep with a book on his face.

Give Daddy a "haircut" with a screw driver and a drill. Sam is very into the haircut. I think Emma is thankful to be bald! haha!!
Get grouchy because Mommy needs a cup of coffee (or several) and a hot shower to feel like a human in the morning.

Wear cute baby legs. She also does this when we do have electricity but I am just working this in here for my sister, who had never heard of baby leg warmers until I got her some!

Hang out in PJs and do some schoolwork. (Speaking of home schooling, I am wishing that I bought a few first grade books instead of all kindergarten. The book he has in this picture is a Brain Quest book with lots of fun stuff in it!)


Play rousing games of Candy Land.

Start panicking that you are going to run out of cloth diapers even though you have plenty of clean ones.

Go visit people who DO have electricity. Use their dryer and wash the diapers you are sure you are going to run out of. (Thanks Gram.) And make coffee. Because you need it. Desperately!

Be thankful that you live next to a creek so you can flush the toilet.

Eat food that should be warm cold. My husband is especially good at this. (eww)

Ponder how if you could just have running water, you might not miss electricity during the day.
But above ALL....BE YOURSELF! (Never a problem for Brayden!)


Please continue to pray for those in Broome County and surrounding areas who are experiencing the devastating effects of the flood....

Rainy Days and Wednesdays Always Get Me Down

It is surely a gloomy day here in Brackney...it is a mis-statement to say that rainy days get me down, because I usually quite enjoy a good rain. But the past few days, I have reminded myself of Eeyore. My mood is just as gloomy as the weather!

SO. To battle the gloom, I decided to warm things up inside. By making a big crock pot of chili. We love chili...I spent some time this morning assembling this masterpiece:

Yesterday someone requested recipes. Chili is one of those things that I don't really have a recipe for, I just cook from my heart and use what's in my pantry. It comes out a little different every time. This batch is just bean chili. I do have some tricks up my sleeve. If you've ever had my chili, you know it's usually pretty darn tasty. I wish I could post the SMELL of it...yum!

Speaking of using what is in the pantry, I have this habit of opening bags of dry beans and then opening another bag before I use up the first bag! I decided I would just use all the open dry beans (excepting lentils, split peas, and garbanzo beans) to make this chili. WELL...haha...good thing I can think of lots of ways to use cooked beans because, um, I slightly overestimated my crock pot's ability to hold so many beans....whoops....

In case you can't see the scale, that's over 4-1/2 POUNDS of beans...about 2/3 of a gallon, volumetrically....Looks like we will be making lots of bean-based delicacies. One of my favorite things to do is stock my freezer with healthy, quick options....good thing, huh?

The boys are still sniffling. (I really wish Brayden would remember to cover his nose/mouth before he sneezes! He always remembers AFTER. ha...) SO...here was this morning's entertainment (i.e. distraction so I could make the chili)....oh my gosh, I just realized that Sam has a tiny cowboy hat on...HAHA! Just when you think things are gloomy, the Lord gives you a reason to laugh!

Old school Care Bears on Netflix. My sister and I were HUGE Care Bears fans! We even "played' Care Bears. I think I was usually Love-a-Lot Bear and she was Cheer Bear....but sometimes I think I was Cheer Bear and she was Sunshine Bear....yeah, we kept ourselves entertained...

I think Emma had the best idea of all:




Before I go: please pray for all of the people experiencing a hard time due to flooding, including those being evacuated from their homes. It puts a bad mood into perspective.

Babies, pumpkin, and brownies!

Oh my....life moves too fast sometimes, doesn't it? I said to Christian last night, "I feel like we didn't even have a weekend." We are always so busy! He even had an extra day off for Labor Day and it didn't feel like a weekend! (And TODAY, Tuesday, feels like MONDAY in my world!)

Saturday, after a quick adjustment at the chiropractor and coming home to a surprise French toast breakfast, I spent much of the day inside hiding from the heat/humidity and preparing for my sister's baby shower. I can't even tell you how thrilled I am to soon be welcoming a new niece into our family...and into my heart. Being an aunt is something special. I made ice cream cake and brownie pops (favors), along with munchies like meatballs, hummus, veggies and dip, etc.

I was pretty proud of these brownie pops, and they were really fun to make once I got into a groove:


I didn't take any pictures of how I arranged them, in a vase like flowers. I have received many flattering comments about both their taste and appearance. I also didn't take a picture of the ice cream cake, which was simple but adorable!

I also gave Emma her first taste of orange autumn goodness: PUMPKIN, thinned out with apple juice. Now, I am personally a huge pumpkin fan, for both desserts and savory dishes. Emma is a fan too! Both boys had butternut squash first (other than rice cereal) but I just couldn't resist breaking out some pumpkin to celebrate the upcoming autumn season. You would have thought I was feeding Emma sugar cubes the way she sucked it down! (I should probably also mention that she sneezed during this feeding and splashed pumpkin all over me!) I spent the majority of last fall feeling nauseous and/or vomiting because I was in the stage of early pregnancy, so I am EXTRA ready for apple picking, pumpkin treats, pretty leaves, etc....

Here's my pumpkin pie (after her first pumpkin!), home grown and sweeter than any real pie:Haha...I just love her!

Sunday, I woke up early and got ready for church, but little Emma didn't wake up (until 11:15!), so Christian took Sam and Brayden to church while I stayed home and enjoyed some quiet. It's a good thing I enjoyed that, because once they were home, it was off to my mom's to get ready for the shower. And then back to get Emma and the boys...and...Emma CRIED the ENTIRE shower, other than 10 minutes while she gave up and slept. I felt like crying myself. (She fussed in the car too, and as soon as we got home, she was perfectly fine....what a stinker!)

Aside from Emma's drama, the shower was really nice. It is always nice to celebrate a birth! My mother-in-law was telling me that baby showers used to be held once, in honor of the mother. I think now they are more about the baby...and shouldn't we celebrate every baby? (I don't have any pictures because I left my camera at home...darn it.)

Yesterday we crammed a lot of cleaning in and then had dinner with my parents. I made spaghetti...messy but delicious! Today is my mom's birthday....HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM! :-)

Today...well...my day matches the weather. We've all been a bit sniffley (spell check is telling me that's not a word) thanks to allergies, but we're all a miserable today. Emma was grumpy this morning. I let the boys watch a movie and eat popcorn while I coddled their sister. They're all sleeping right now, so I should probably, ya know, fold laundry or get a jump start on dinner. Mexican pumpkin and corn soup...what are you making? It's definitely a warm soup kind of day!!

And last but not least: Here's Emma, being camera shy, but adding a splash of diva color to a rainy, grumpy day!
hehehe....oh come on, it made you smile too!! :-)

I'm Back!

I really enjoy reading some of my friends' blogs. So I posted a question on facebook: Who would read my blog if I started one?

Thanks, Jen, for reminding me that I ALREADY have a blog. It's been over a YEAR since I made a blog entry! Guess I should get around to updating my profile....

It just goes to show you how much can change in one year.

Brayden and Sam are both one year older. My last entry was while I was preparing for Brayden's first birthday and he is now 2. Sam turned FIVE this year.

AND

They are BOTH big brothers now~which means, of course, we have added another baby to our family. Emma Jane blessed us with her presence on April Fool's Day this year! (As SOON as I learned my duedate, I said, "I hope she is born any day other than April 1." My midwife says she knew at that moment that she would arrive that day!) Emma was a surprise, but a welcome one. She is incredibly sweet and looks like her momma (at least that's what I hear!). I thought maybe having a girl would be a lot different and harder than boys, but she is like her brothers; easy going and sunny dispositioned. So far.

This means I now drive a Suburban instead of my cute little Passat. (The Passat died a worthy death when Christian was crashed into by a drunk driver last November. The car was totaled, but it saved Christian.)

At this time last year, I was in the first trimester of pregnancy and barfing my guts out every time I even moved. I'm happy to say that I have a smiling baby girl instead of vomit this year. I'm excited for autumn. THIS IS MY FAVORITE TIME OF THE YEAR. Anyone else ready for pumpkin treats and the smell of apples?

I've made some beautiful new friends, who I don't know how I lived without before now.

Sam has started homeschool. This seems impossible to me. I feel so blessed to have this opportunity to teach him.

I have successfully grown some vegetables this year. :-)

I have considered eating fish and have been waffling on this idea for almost a year.

(You know, the more I think about it, things really haven't changed much aside from having Emma!)


And then there are things that are the same:

I still don't have an official bakery license but I am baking like crazy (at least as much as I can)!!

I still love to spend time in my kitchen. Usually.

Christian is still working at EIT. He gets so frustrated but we are thankful that he has steady employment, benefits, a semi-flexible schedule....

I'm still a stay-at-home mom. I have the same haircut, just a little shorter. I need to lose weight, which I'm working at, slowly, especially while nursing Emma. And I'm still addicted to coffee.

Sam is still SO SMART. He is not as shy as he was, which shows mostly at church or when we go on outings.

Brayden's personality keeps on getting funnier and funnier. Brayden has 2 speeds: sleeping and full-speed ahead!

We still love the Lord and attend church as much as we can.

Which reminds me: we're still always late. Somehow having another baby didn't improve my punctuality.

I'm still breastfeeding, washing cloth diapers, and baking my own bread.

My house is always a wreck. We want to do so much remodeling. It is a bit frustrating.

I still drive myself crazy when I get my own head. Especially when it comes to my home, which as I stated above, is in serious need of attention.

(Maybe I should do that instead of blogging?)


I will give this blog another try. When push comes to shove, I'm not certain that I am interesting enough to keep a blog. (Read: I am boring and fine with being boring. This is significantly different than being bored, which I am not.) Stay tuned, friends!